September 21, 2011

Recipes for Gamers: Chicken Inasal

Feeding a pack of hungry gamers is usually a nightmare for whoever has to clean up, and a joy for the neighborhood pizza delivery or burger joint. We used to eat out at various places in between gaming, way back then – Chinese food buffets in Binondo, Mongolian Barbecue grills, Japanese restaurants. We tend to be more pragmatically tightwaddish now.

Which brings me to a new section on my blog, Fire n’ Forget Cooking – recipes for gamers. As I like to cook, I’ll be putting up here the recipes for some of the things I feed my players. Why Fire n’ Forget? These recipes are mostly chosen because they require just a little preparation, after which you can leave them to cook on some device with a timer switch. Easy, tasty, convenient, and most of all, cheaper than going out to eat. This entry is based on what I fed the Hari Ragat playtest group last Saturday.

Baked Chicken InasalThis is based on my uncle’s recipe for Chicken Inasal, a pickled barbecue chicken from the Visayas region. You’ll need:

1.5 kg chicken pieces (preferably thighs and legs)

1 thumb-sized nob of ginger, or enough to make a tablespoon of chopped ginger

6-8 cloves garlic, or enough to make 2 tablespoons of chopped garlic

1/2 cup cane vinegar

1/4 cup dark soy sauce

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp turmeric powder

Throw all the ingredients together in a bowl and mix; leave for at least 30 minutes to marinade. Bake the chicken in an oven or turbo-broiler for about 30 minutes at 350 F, turn, and finish the other side with another 10 minutes. Of if you’re lazy and you’re okay with chicken browned on only one side, give it 40-45 minutes. The chicken tastes better if you pour the remaining marinade over the chicken midway during the baking.

Serves 5-6 persons. Our traditional dip for this is a soy-vinegar dip with lime (calamansi) juice and chilies. The players also collected and finished the drippings; they go great over rice – if you’ve no cholesterol problems!